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Aji Charapita peppers

wheebz

wheebz

I got my hands on some, and by some, i mean like 30 pounds, of aji charapita peppers.

We use them a lot to cook here at the brewery in some of our dishes, but darwin and myself both want to see if we can get them rocking in a beer.

I plan on using them in a beer here at the brewery, but I am curious as to if anyone has ever worked with them before, either in a sauce or paste or cooking or anything of that sort, and what your experiences are with them.
 
Those peppers are super good! I ate them straight... I LOVE the wild flavor they bring to the table. Would be super good in a beer!
 
Wheebz,

Do they look like this:

DSCN0247.jpg


DSCN0253.jpg



I grew them last season. I called them "bode amarillo," as that is what they were labeled, but I can't find much information on that name.
 
Cool - I'll need to re-label my plants. They were delicious with a concentrated flavor and a little heat. The only downside was that they took forever to grow. I live in a short growing season zone, and I didn't get the first ripe one until 101 days after the plant was put in the ground.
 
IMO, the pod in dragon49's pic is larger and thicker-fleshed than a charapita--might be best to leave it labeled as bode amarillo. A real charapita pod is just a crotch hair's width larger than a kernel of yellow corn and very thin-fleshed. It also doesn't keep worth a damn, and you practically need to have a plant in your yard to have a steady supply.

In the Peruvian Amazon, you won't find an eatery without a bowl of "criolla" on the table. This is a sauce/condiment made with finely chopped red onion, lime juice, salt, a bit of water, and lightly crushed charapita (which looks like corn in the mix). It's also pretty easy to ask for some extra ají for added heat--what you get (at least in Iquitos) is charapita. They are very tasty.

edited--I mistakenly gave the picture to Wheebz. dragon49 corrected me in a message below. Ají charapita is a C. chinense, so it sounds like d49's baccatum is a different beast. "Wild Brazil" on the other hand could be the same pepper as the charapita.
 
Aji Hombre,

Wheebz didn't post a pic. I did. Can I assume you are refering to the pics that I posted earlier in the thread?

Thanks

Also, look at the pic of "Wild Brazil peppers." - http://rainbowchiliseeds.com/catalog/i189.html These look exactly like my pods, except my plant was a C Bactum, not a C Chinense.
 
awesome. what kind of brew is going to have the benefit of these Peruvian beuties?

I'm thinking maybe a wheat beer to play off the lemony-ness?
 
Wheebz.

Ty for the pic. My peppers were bigger, somewhere betwen 2 and 3 times the size.

Anyway, if there is some way you can pack up a beer or 2 and mail it to me, pm me. I'll pay a fair price.
 
When do y'all start bottling and distributing? :D

Can't say another trip to FLA is in the cards anytime soon, despite my ties there...
 
I've seen a couple colors of Charapita out there,Red and the more common Yellow.

I also see it as mild to med. in heat and only sometimes called hot.
Since hot is a matter of the tasters perception of HOT.
That is debatable.

I'm looking for Red Charapita.I had some dried pods that were red but the seeds won't germinate...

I have yellow and they are from a couple sources in Peru and a couple seed companies.

All, in general have an excellent Chinense taste but not much heat.
I hear the red is much hotter with basically the same taste,

I've read that Red Fire and Yellow fire might be Charapita.
Anyone grown either of the red or yellow fire out to know?

Why I'm asking is I'm starting to think the name Charapita might cover several different Peppers.
Different pepper strains or whatever.
In the different Gov. data bases there are a couple #'s for charapita and they are mostly yellow pods but 1/3rd are for red pods.

I'm also thinking that like Cumari,there are a lot of local peppers(Landrace versions) of the same thing.

Like Cumari , Habaneros , Bhuts or whatever,depending where they were grown they have slightly different to vastly different characteristics in heat , habitat that make for possibly different pod and or plant variations.

For what I've grown as far as Charapita goes,there are only a few peppers out there that have as strong of a Chinense taste without the heat.
Offhand I can only think of 1 other pepper with as stronge of a Chinense taste but it has a lot more heat.
The White Habanero-White Bullet , Peruvian White , White Lightning etc.

I've also grown seeds out that were supposed to be yellow Charapita that I'm sure were a Peruvian version of Chiltepin Amarillo.
Taste etc. was wrong.They are an Annuum not Chinense.Even less heat in my opinion.
Not that tastey either,little to no taste of any kind.
 
I was in the Peruvian Amazon last July, and I'd agree that yellow charapita qualifies as a landrace of the area near Iquitos. I did not see any red variations in the markets or in people's backyards. Then again, I wasn't focusing on peppers during that trip (though I will be paying a lot more attention to local peppers in future travels). I was able to germinate one seed, and hopefully I'll have pics to post soon.

On a whim I bought some seeds of PI4411624/BGH1724, thinking that they might be similar to a charapita. Can someone comment on the comparison?
 
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